The following pages describe an invention to be used for Internet billing, i.e. allowing purchaser to make a payment and a vendor to receive that payment over the Internet. The system includes three main elements: An MicroTrac Server, specific software at a content provider""s (vendor""s) site, and specific software at the consumer""s Internet Access Provider (IAP).
It is the unique interaction of these three elements which comprise the invention. It is not the intention of this paper to describe the specific coding or scripts within the software since these are not the elements being patentedxe2x80x94the actual development of the software is elementary, however, the basic function of each of these elements is described and considered pertinent to the function of the invention as a whole.
There are currently hundreds of companies throughout the world working toward Internet billing solutions. Many of these companies"" systems have been in development for several years and at least twenty products are on the market today. Companies pursuing these billing systems include such major names as IBM, Digital Equipment and ATandT.
Despite this magnitude of interest and investment into Internet billing solutions, a simple, yet unobvious, solution has remained undiscovered, a system which could standardize Internet electronic commerce.
Some Terms Used in this Paper
Customer Identifier Cookie (CIC): Cookie used to identify the customer to the MicroTrac Account Server
Special Purchase Cookie (SPC): Cookie used to actually identify a validated customer to purchase goods from a given vendor.
Content Provider/Vendor/Merchant: This refers to the same entity in this paperxe2x80x94the entity which is providing a good or service to the customer. Technically, merchant does not need to charge the user an actual sum of money for the goods or services, but might only use the system to authenticate a user before distributing goods or services or merely to provide access to information.
Goods: Any information, data or small services provided by Content Providers.
IAP: In this paper, an Internet access provider (IAP) refers to the uplink services of the ISP, i.e. that part of the ISP""s services which provides users access to the Internet. This does not include the part of an ISP""s services which provide hosting of content provider""s sites.
IAPS: IAP software.
Microbilling: The act of billing for Internet Payments. (see below).
MicroTrac Account Server: A centralized server which authenticates purchasers to buy from vendor sites and clears (in an accounting sense) the transactions between the vendor and the user""s IAP.
Internet Payment: A payment made by a consumer over the Internet to a merchant for goods or services rendered. An Internet Payment is a transaction in which the customer receives the goods or services in exchange for an obligation of payment, and does not have to be an immediate delivery of currency to the merchant.
Browser: client side software which allows a customer to send and receive TCP/IP packets over the Internet.
Customer/Purchaser/User: Anyone who makes a purchase from a Vendor/Merchant.
The MicroTrac invention uses the existing billing account Information at the IAP (Internet Access Provider) to bill consumers for other internet payments on the Internet Much like long distance companies use the local telephone companies to bill long distance charges.
A third party (MicroTrac) Account Server is used to track internet payments to Content Providers (vendors) on the web using xe2x80x9ccookiesxe2x80x9d that are issued by the either the customer""s IAP or the MicroTrac Account Server.1 Primarily, two types of cookies will be used in the MicroTrac process: a Customer Identifier Cookie (CIC) and a Special Purchase Cookie (SPC). In addition, other cookies may be usedxe2x80x94this will be described later.
1Cookies can be solely controlled by the MicroTrac Account serverxe2x80x94both methods will be described in the following pages. 
Simply, a customer requests a pay-for item from a MicroTrac vendor. The MicroTrac Vendor Software forwards (or redirects) the client side software application (browser) to the MicroTrac Account Server which is identified as the xe2x80x9cpathxe2x80x9d attribute for the CIC (see COOKIESxe2x80x94BACKGOROUND AND SPECIFICATION below) and the CIC is forwarded to the MicroTrac server.
The Account Server then request a customer PIN. Upon validation that this is the correct PIN associated with the CIC, a SPC is returned to the customer browser. The SPC xe2x80x9cpathxe2x80x9d attribute is set to the path of the vendor so that the SPC is included in future request from that vendor.
The SPC path attribute may also be set for a common MicroTrac domain (for example microtrac.com) and the vendors registered under that domain with the central agency governing domain listings (in this case, the Internic). In this manner, the cookie will still release to the vendor.
The customer""s browser is also automatically forwarded (redirected) back to the vendor""s site where the SPC is released to the vendor site, which identifies the user as valid purchaser. The SPC may either be expired at that time by the vendor host or may be expired by dating included in the xe2x80x9cexpiresxe2x80x9d attribute (see COOKIESxe2x80x94BACKGROUND AND SPECIFICATION below) This choice will be left to the vendor. The purchase/billing information is forwarded by the vendor software to the Account Server at the completion of the transaction.
Note: A CIC is a semi-permanent cookie which resides in the customer""s/client browser (software application) and will probably only be purged at the user""s discretion. The SPC is specific to the vendor and/or vendor item be sold and expires either at the of purchase or at a date set in the xe2x80x9cexpirexe2x80x9d attribute. The MicroTrac Account Server may also use other forms of communication with the vendor software to OK the transaction, such as a direct communication using the Internet (or by other means of communication), such that the goods or services purchased by the purchaser are then released to the purchaser. In such a communication, only the user and the transaction need to be identified to the merchant/vendor.